The socket is the very foundation of the patient’s comfort, and the patient’s comfort is the foundation for all activities of life.
Lower extremity care is provided for all levels of amputation, including partial foot, symes, below-knee, above-knee, hip-disarticulation, knee-disarticulation and hemi-pelvectomy amputees. Our goal is to build a comfortable prosthesis based on your goals and lifestyle no matter the level of your amputation.
The most critical component in all prosthetic designs is the socket. A prosthesis can have all the latest high-tech features and specialized components, but if the socket does not fit accurately and feel comfortable, the patient will not be as active as they’d like. Or the prosthesis will sit in the closet.
The socket is the critical interface between the amputee and the prosthesis
Older, conventional sockets had a rigid shape that was uncomfortable—even painful— for the patient to wear. Years of research have led to a flexible, lightweight socket that is contoured to fit the bone, muscle, vascular and nerve structures of each patient’s residual limb. In 1992, John Sabolich created the patient Sabolich Socket, a true breakthrough design that provides both comfort and stability for the person who’s wearing it.
Scott Sabolich has taken this design to the next level. The socket design is proprietary to our clinic, and our prosthetists have been through years of training to be able to correctly fit the latest generation of Sabolich socket designs.
Below-the-Knee The below-the-knee socket has varying degrees of flexibility depending on each individual’s needs. To add stability, it fits into a lightweight composite frame. Some sockets feature fenestrated areas on the frame, producing flexible portions over bony prominences and muscle bellies, with the rest of the socket having a more firm quality. There are self-suspending suction sockets with molded silicone gel suspension sleeves.
Above-the-Knee The above-the-knee socket has varying degrees of flexibility depending on each individual’s needs. To add stability, it fits into a lightweight composite frame. Some sockets feature fenestrated areas on the frame, producing flexible portions over bony prominences and muscle bellies, with the rest of the socket having a more firm quality. There are self-suspending suction sockets with molded silicone gel suspension sleeves. Many of the advances seen in above-knee prosthetics are applied to our patients with hip-disarticulation or hemi-pelvectomy amputations. Although these sockets wrap around the entire pelvic area, they are lightweight, flexible and trimmed out enough to allow greater freedom of movement than previous designs.
Partial foot Partial foot prostheses have also advanced in terms of design and materials. Today’s slipper-type designs are fabricated from silicone which simulates human subcutaneous tissue much more accurately than plastics or rubberized epoxy.
